Dental tooth-crown-stamping machine.



Patented May 29, [900.

N53. LEA. DENTAL TOOTH CROWN STAMPING MACHINE.

(Application filed. Sept. 27, 1899.)

No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT Genres.

NORMAN S. LEA, OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA.

DENTAL TOOTH-CROWN-STAM PING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 650,68 5, dated May 29, 1900.

Application filed September 27, 1899. Serial No. 731,841. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, NORMAN S. LEA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Charleston, in the county of Charleston and State of South Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dental Tooth- Crown-Stamping Machines, of which the fo1- lowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in dental stamping-machines for forming toothcrowns out of sheet metal. Its object is to provide a device that will form a tooth-crown out of sheet metal and will also give the crown the bulging shape corresponding to the natural tooth and also to furnish such a machine as above described as will be simple, compact, portable, economical, and operative without the use of any other tools than just the press, with its necessary dies and punches, save any suitable pair of shears to cut off the surplus metal around the formed crown and any sort of a point or pick to remove the shotor sand used in the process of enlargement.

Referring to the accompanying sheet of drawings, 011 which the letters refer to the same parts in the several views, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a machine embodying m'y invention, the dies being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the screw and punch. Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the two members of the die in operative position. Fig. at shows a top view of the upper member of the die and also of its under surface. Fig. 5 shows the upper surface of the lower member of the die. Fig. 6 shows a modified form of die-plate, with means for clamping its members together. Fig. 7 shows the same in vertical section. Fig. 8 shows two of the punches. Fig. 9 is a sectional view of the die plate, showing the mode of operation.

The stamping device A comprises a suitable base a, a standard a, and an overhanging arm a said partspreferably integral and formed by casting. The base I have shown as circular in shape and having a cavity or aperture a in the center thereof. I also form two parallel ridges E F, one on each side of said aperture, to receive and guide the die-plate, as will appear presently. The free extremity of said arm a is directly over the said aperture a and has a vertical aperture therein which is tapped to receive a screw B. A suitable lever or wheel 0 is secured to one end of the screw for operating it. The lower extremity of the screw is m ado tubular to receive the punches D D-D Suitable means for preventing the punch from rotating with the screw when it revolves, such as lugs Z) Z), are formed on the lower end of the extremity of the arm (t ,WlllCl1 lugs form sides of slots 11 b for engaging two pins d d, that project from opposite sides of the punch D, these slots extending a short distance up into the said arm (i The die consists of two members G H of narrow oblong shape, the upper member having two rabbets g g, that receive tenons h h,

projecting from the upper face at the lower member H. The member H has two projections h 72/, that engage two cavities g g and prevent the members from sliding one on the other. The member G has a series of apertures s s 8 &c., that are tapering-from the top downward and of the shape shown in the drawings-an ellipse slightly flattened at the ends of each side. The member H contains a series of cavities t t t 850., of the shape of the grinding part of the tooth, the margins of which register with the margins of the described apertures on the under side of the member G. It will be observed that these series of apertures'are of increasing size from one end to the other of the members G H to form various sizes of tooth-crowns.

Figs. 6 and 7 show a modified form of the die consisting of two members V W, the divisions of the die being on a vertical plane. .The usual projections and cavities o 'v' and w w retain them in proper position together. Each member has a series of half-tooth-shaped cavities 12 @42 the margins of those of one member registering with those of theother member, as shown in the views. A suitable clamping-band M surrounds these members, with clamping-screws 0 p, which securely holds them together in operative position. This form of mold is for forming the incisor and canine teeth, the lower part of the cavity being somewhat flattened instead of rounding, as in die G H, which is for bicuspids and mo-= lars.

To insure the aperture in the die being in the axis of the punch, I form an indicatingnotch w on the ridge F and also marks or notches 3 y, &c. on both members of the die, one opposite each of the die-apertures, so that when one or both members of the die are placed on the base in the slideway and the notch opposite the die-aperture to be used is brought to coincide with the notch 90 in the ridge F the die will be in the proper position for use.

The method of forming the tooth-crowns by the dies G H is to first put the member G only in the slide with the desired aperture under the punch, then bring the punch down on the sheet metal and force it down in the apertures, forming a tubular-shaped crown. The punch is then raised, the member of the die removed, and the two members G H (or V W, as the case may be) are put together, as shown in Fig. 1, and put in the slideway, with the same die-aperture under the punch as was used in the first operation. The tubular tooth-crown is then inserted in the die and a quantity of small shot or sand is put into the tooth-crown,filling it about one-half full. The punch is then brought down, when the shot or sand will spread and cause the tooth-crown to expand and entirely fill the mold, as will be seen in Fig. 9. Then the punch is Withdrawn, the die removed from the press, and the two members of the mold separated,when the formed tooth-crown will fall out. By using a knife-blade or awl the shot or sand can be easily removed from the crown. In using the form of die shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the first operation is the same as just described, using the sized aperture in the plate G correspondin g to the top of the cavity in die V W. Then the tooth-crown is put between the members V V and the clamping-band M put on and screwed up to secure them together. Then the crown is partly filled with shotor sand and the punch brought down, forming the desired-shaped tooth-crown. Then the punch is raised, the die removed, the clamping-band taken off, and the members separated, when the tooth will fall out and the sand or shot is removed in any convenient manner.

It is obvious that my device can be used to form tooth-crowns of other shape than here shown by using die-plates with other forms of apertures.

What I claim is 1. In a dental tooth-crown-stamping machine, the combination of the base a, the standard a, the arm 0?, the screw B, the wheel 0, the punch D, the pair of oblong registering die-plates G, H, the parallel ridges E, F, on the base for guiding said die-plates in successive positions under said punch, the notch 02, on the ridge F, and the registering marks y, y, &c., on the said die-plates for indicating the axial position of said dies under said punch, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination in a machine of the character described, with the overhanging arm, the screw operating in said arm, and the punch fitting in the socket in the extremity of said screw and having projections on the sides thereof, of lugs projecting from said arm and forming a guideway for engaging said projections on the punch to prevent said punch from rotating when said screw is raised and lowered, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination in a dental tooth-crownstamping machine with the base, standard, arm, screw, dies and punch, of the lugs b, b, projecting from the under side of the end of said arm and having slots b b extending up into the screw-threaded aperture in the end of the said arm, and pins d, d, projecting from the opposite sides of said punch to slide in said slots b b to prevent said punch from revolving when the screw is raised or lowered, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination in a die for forming tooth-crowns, of the two members separable on a middle vertical plane, each member having corresponding half-tooth cavities similar to the contour of a tooth, said members also having projections on one member engaging corresponding cavities on the other member to cause said tooth-shaped apertures to register when said members are brought together, and the clamping-band M having set-screws o, 19, therein to securely retain said members in position for operation, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

NORMAN S. LEA.

Witnesses:

WALTER R. I'IENSEY, WILLIAM II. REID. 

